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Pressure on Karzai for vote runoff

Officials to decide whether Afghan president is outright winner or must face second round.

19 Oct 2009 02:53 GMT

Should Karzai lose around 250,000 votes, he is obliged to take part in a runoff election [AFP]

"Honestly, this is the minimum they could do."

The August 20 election has left Afghanistan in a state of political uncertainty at a time when the US is deciding whether to send more troops there to fight a resurgent Taliban.

Fraud inquiry

Election officials in Afghanistan are expected soon to announce whether Karzai is the outright winner of August's disputed election or must face a second vote against rival candidate Abdullah.

The UN-backed Electoral Complaints Commission (ECC) may unveil its findings of an investigation into fraud allegations on Sunday or Monday.

If enough votes are disqualified, the final result may push Karzai's share of the vote below 50 per cent.

The incumbent would then face Abdullah in a second round - barring possible legal steps to invalidate the decision or his rival's decision to withdraw.

Karzai won 54.6 per cent of the vote, according to preliminary figures. More than 250,000 votes will have to be thrown out from his tally for it to fall below 50 per cent.

Runoff expected

But the expectation is that there will be a runoff vote.

"Even some of Karzai's closest aides are speculating that there will be a second round of voting. For example, the Afghan ambassador to the United States - Saeed Jawar - says he believes it is likely", Al Jazeera correspondent James Bays said.

And Aleem Siddique, spokesman for the UN mission which appointed three of the ECC's five members, said preparations for a possible runoff were already under way, including measures designed to eliminate any risk of repeated fraud.